The primary objective of BioLib is compatibility between languages and
multi-platform support. The secondary objective of BioLib is
efficiency - both of CPU and RAM (why bother to write in C,
otherwise). Think of BioLib as a repository, or kernel, for low-level processing and
analysis of biological data. BioLib was incepted at the
Tokyo Biohackathon 2008.

DOCUMENTATION

The API of included BioLib modules can be found in the API Documentation. This documentation is generated straight from the source code. Translating the API to the mapped Perl or Ruby methods is straightforward. One example is here, others are in the test files (for Perl, Ruby and
Python).

REQUESTING MODULES

If you need a C/C++/FORTRAN/R module or library linked against one of the popular scripting languages, please make that known through the Biolib Poll. See also Interesting_libraries.

CONTRIBUTING

All developers writing low-level bioinformatics libraries are
encouraged to contribute. A write-up on what it took to map some of the EMBOSS functionality can
be found in Mapping EMBOSS. For a HOWTO read Add C Library. If you feel you have something that can be
shared by other developers sign up to the BioLib mailing list (see below).

Unit testing is a critical part of BioLib. Unit tests are conveniently
written in high-level languages.

The multiplatform build system is based on CMake. The source trees are
maintained with git distributed version control.